The Search for Miss Direction: Boston is just cooler!

Rainy days that start with no plan in mind are often some of the best around here. And if you know me, you know how rare it is for me to not have SOME kind of a plan. But given that we're tied up 3 of the 5 nights this week, I decided to keep things a little less jammed during the day. I have plenty of ideas and decided that the Bean and I will just play it by ear. We had hoped to be able to get out and plant some flowers today, but as we were walking back from the bus and watching the clouds roll in we realized we were going to have to put that on the back burner. So we talked about a few different things and set off to run a few quick errands to get what we needed.

We swung by the library (my favorite) and as we were getting in line, Kayla spotted the "Lucky Day" DVD's and a shiny copy of "Frozen" to which I heard her say "I really wish we could get that today." So we did! She promised she'd help me with the few things we had already decided on first, so why not? The rain didn't show any signs of letting up so "Frozen" it was. But first...

Last night while attempting to come up with a craft project for Massachusetts week that we could do pretty much whenever I came across this and this and thought my twosome would have fun with them. Mikayla was all about doing the wig this morning when I mentioned it. We did a whole lot of giggling this morning trying to assemble our powdered wig look alike. We talked about one of the reasons that people wore a white wig was because they thought it made them look older and therefor wiser. I don't know about wise, but I think our wig (which both kiddos love) would have made the Founding Fathers proud. We also designed the perfect tricorn hat that was all the rage in colonial Massachusetts. Fun fact: In the United States, only the first five Presidents, from George Washington to James Monroe, wore this style of hat according to the fashion of the 18th century. James Monroe gained the nickname "The Last Cocked Hat" because of this. (http://listoy.com/Presidents/James-Monroe.htm) Noah made his when he got home from school this afternoon. I can't really do either the wig or the hats justice - you just have to see the pictures.

I mentioned yesterday that chocolate chip cookies made their debut in Massachusetts and as I needed a treat to take to my last PTA meeting tonight and for Dogs & Dads tomorrow night I asked my favorite assistant chef if she wouldn't mind helping me make up a batch. Now, I am notorious for NOT following recipes and tweaking them as I go, but for once (other than omitting the nuts because of where I was taking them) the Bean and I followed the original Tollhouse chocolate chip recipe step by step. We made a few actual cookies for tasting (yum) and ended up making the rest into pan cookies for something a little different.

The rain continued to pour down and she had more than gotten quite a full morning, so I was more than OK with letting the Bean watch "Frozen" and eat some lunch while I assembled stuff for my meeting. Movies mid-week (or pretty much any TV at all) is a huge treat around here, but she so earned it. Now if I could only stop singing "Do You Want to Build A Snowman" it'd be all good ;-)

Dinner tonight was more seafood - scallops this time! Bay scallops are one of the primary seafood industries in Massachusetts and I decided we'd try Nantucket Scallops over Pasta tonight. Scallops are such an easy, quick option and my crew all liked this version. Personally, I'm always a fan of them sauteed in just a little butter and white wine, and I just came across a recipe for scallop kabobs on the grill that we may have to try out at some point.

Tonight's dessert is actually not native to Massachusetts, but Michigan! In fact, if you're not from around here there's a good chance you've never heard of a Boston Cooler. I, on the other hand, was well versed because they happen to be a favorite of my Grandpa Bevens. I mentioned to my Mom the other night that I was going to make them (and filled her in on their true origins and why its called a Boston Cooler) and she told me that they actually had a device for making an authentic Boston Cooler. The treat is NOT an ice cream float, the ice cream is actually mixed into the Vernors soda to make it almost more like a shake. She told me that what they had was like a ball that opened to put the ice cream in, with spouts on both ends - one to pour the vernors through over the top of the ice cream and the other to put in the glass to catch the cooler - how cool! I did do a bit of searching, Mama and couldn't find anything online like that, but there's got to be SOMEONE else out there that knows something about this. Spread the word people - I want to get my hands on one of these. Anyway, to get a true shake consistency I threw ours in the blender. If you like ginger ale, (and our in a place that actually sells Vernors, sorry Aunt Diane!) try this out - but ONLY if you are going to actually use Vernors. Otherwise it totally doesn't count.

Gee, after all that excitement how could it get any better? Well I headed off to the last PTA meeting of the year (yay!) and Grant and the kids hung here to do the "We've Been There" state (shortened considerably - Massachusetts has way too many letters for being the size it is) and then read some "Make Way For Ducklings" which is set in Boston Common. (Written by Robert McCloskey who also wrote "One Morning in Maine" that we read a few weeks ago!) I hear they had a good night and I know I did. Can't believe (after tomorrow night's Dogs & Dads event) PTA is mostly wrapped up for the year. Was it really only a year ago that I was nominated to the board? Geesh, seems like just yesterday and ages ago at the same time.

Other than Dogs and Dads not too sure what tomorrow looks like. The Bean and I are hoping to maybe do the flowers, but there was also a mention of some bowling maybe. So we'll see. I have a feeling it'll be great no matter what. So until then...

Massachusetts Fun Fact of the Day: The visible portion of Plymouth Rock is a lumpy fragment of glacial moraine about the size of a coffee table, with the date 1620 cut into its surface. After being broken, dragged about the town of Plymouth by ox teams used to inspire Revolutionaries, and reverently gouged and scraped by 19th-century souvenir hunters, it is now at rest near the head of Plymouth Harbor.

Checked on our babies this morning!

How cool :)

My favorite four year old in the whole world

Trying on her painters hat - special thanks to Sherwin Williams - there is a store up the road (which I didn't remember until after we'd tried a few other locations) and they gave us the hat to make the wig :)